Ellen: My favorite part is where the net is wrapped around you.

Roger: You know, I forgot to mention how much fear there was at this point, but I think you managed to get the sense of restriction. I wonder what the symbolism of the shark and the net would be.

Ellen: Didn't you mention that your issue right now is about identity? The dream that you chose is about identity. You were 12, entering adolescence, leaving behind your life as a boy and entering the uncertain waters of adulthood. there's the comfort of the blazing sun, but you're throwing yourself into this ocean, trying to make sense of what's happening. But at the same time you are getting caught in your own net. I saw it as a great metaphor for that age.

Roger: The shark is always moving or devouring. The shark must represent change.

Ellen: Then here you are going through this change again.

Roger: From early adulthood to midlife.

Roger: The sharks are obviously sharks. They are representational. But I don't get the sun and the moon and the red.

Ellen: Oh you said it was hot. I wanted to get the feeling of hot. At the same time you said the water was blue, and the white of the moon and the bed--those were also in there.

Roger: Umhum. But the image of the boy on the bed--I get the feeling of a toga! I guess it's hard to draw a net. It also looks like a garden latice.

I get a really good feeling from it even though it doesn't match the experience of my dream visually. The elements are there--shark, water, and the emotional elements. I am actually feeling very warm, opening in my body as I talk about this.